1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic device capable of recognizing an individual using his fingerprint and of limiting an individual who can use the device.
2. Description of Related Art
Some of conventional electronic devices such as copying machines and printers are designed to specify or limit a user for the sake of charging the specified user for his use or bolstering security, by specifying a user. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open 2000-187419 discloses an imaging apparatus capable of specifying a user using his biological information such as his fingerprint and making an image having watermark information thereon indicating information on the specified user, which therefore can identify a user who makes ill-gotten information such as leaked classified document by the watermark information, to thereby bolster security.
The above-mentioned imaging apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open 2000-187419 uses only one predetermined fingerprint on one of ten fingers for user identification. As a result, there arises a problem that security cannot be maintained well since the likelihood that the device errs in user recognition increases. When a device with high recognition capability is employed for recognizing a user, there arises another problem that the structure of the device becomes complex and the user-friendliness of the device decreases due to, for example, prolongation of time required for recognition.